The NYPD has confirmed the identity of the 17-year-old boy who was shot and killed outside of an apartment building in Crotona Park. 

Police say the shooting happened just before 5 p.m. on Thursday. 

Police say Kather Werts was shot in the head and was later pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. 

Jeanette Speruell Werts, Werts' mother, says he was the youngest of eight children. 

"I'm just devastated. I never thought I would be burying my son. I didn't want that to ever happen,” said Jeanette Speruell Werts, "I'm by myself now. that's all I have. My other kids are grown. He's my baby. Now I don't have my baby here with me."

Police say he was killed in front of an apartment building on Hoe Avenue in broad daylight. 

Werts lived less than two miles from where the incident happened, and his mother tells News 12 that he was with his friends when it happened. 

"They didn't know what was going on. They said they had to move off the block and the next thing they shot my son in the head,” said 

Jeanette Speruell Werts. 

Werts’ mother and sister tell News 12 he loved basketball and playing video games and that he could always make people laugh.  

They say he was looking forward to starting school as a senior at East Bronx Academy and pursuing a degree in engineering when he graduated. 

"We were actually supposed to go and get sneakers and some clothes today, now I can't do that but make arrangements for my son,” said Jeanette Speruell Werts. 

No arrests have been made and the case is currently still under investigation.